It has been a busy opening month of 2018 in courts around Essex, with another group of criminals now safely behind bars and off the streets.

Among those jailed in January are a father-of-two from Clacton that sprayed an unknown substance in the face of his victims using a water pistol during a house raid and a sex offender.

Some other cases that faced the courts this month were a Harlow drug dealer offering special promotions on crack and heroin, a man who admitted being addicted to viewing child sex abuse images and a man guilty of the manslaughter of Gary Bassett in Basildon.

Jailed in January

Here's our list of Essex criminals that were jailed in January.

SIMON TAIT (jailed for three years on January 2)

Simon Tait, 41, of The Chase, Great Baddow

Simon Tait, 41, of The Chase, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on January 2, 2018.

He was charged with being involved in the supply of class A drugs in December. He supplied drugs to an undercover police officer in Great Baddow on five different occasions last summer.

He admitted the charges and was remanded in custody on Thursday, December 7, after appearing at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

Tait was arrested as part of a series of police raids carried out to tackle drug crime.

Tait was the first of the nine arrested during the raids to be sentenced.

He was jailed for three years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge and the judge ordered for the drugs to be destroyed.

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MARTIN GARDENER (jailed for three years on January 5)

Martin Gardener was sentenced to three years behind bars (Image: Essex Police)

A Harlow drug dealer, who was offering a special promotion on selling crack and heroin, was jailed for three years.

Officers from the West Operation Raptor team stopped 35-year-old Martin Gardener in Parsonage Leys, Harlow, on November 15, 2017.

Essex Police suspected that Gardener was involved in the supply of Class A drugs.

He was searched by police and found in the possession of two mobile phones, over £100 in cash and various drug dealing paraphernalia.

Gardener, of no fixed abode, was arrested and analysis of the contents of the phones revealed that throughout November, a Class A drug dealer had been texted every day offering them a “special promotion” on the purchase of multiple wraps of heroin and crack cocaine.

He was later charged with two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

He admitted both charges when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court and was jailed for a total of three years.

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MICHAEL JANGDHARI-MAYO (jailed for 11 years on January 5)

Michael Jangdhari-Mayo, 31, was jailed for 11 years for aggravated burglary

A father of two from Clacton used a water pistol to spray chemicals in the face of victims he was trying to burgle.

Michael Jangdhari-Mayo, 31, was jailed for 11 years for aggravated burglary at Chelmsford Crown Court after he was one of three armed men who rushed into a Jaywick home just after 9pm on June 22, 2017, demanding money and drugs.

The men were armed with a gun and a metal bar while Jangdhari-Mayo carried the water pistol.

Jangdhari-Mayo was holding a water pistol to the victims, and sprayed the woman with an unknown substance in her face.

Prosecuting, Oliver Wellings QC said: “He is seen squirting liquid at both the complainants.

“He replaced the substance with water, although the complainants said it smelt of peroxide or ammonia.”

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REGINALD WOOD (jailed for 17 years on January 5)

Reginald Wood was jailed for 17 years

A former lorry driver from Essex was jailed for 17 years after a string of “sick and depraved” crimes against young girls.

Reginald Wood, originally from Stanford-le-Hope, sexually assaulted three different girls of a young age, raping two of them and leaving his victims massively traumatised into adulthood as a result of their harrowing experiences.

The horrific crimes took place over a time span of two decades and were committed in Redcar as well as other locations in Essex.

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COLIN HODGSON (jailed for over seven years on January 6)

Colin Hodgson pleaded guilty to 11 counts of child sex abuse offences

A man from Colchester who said he was “addicted” to viewing child sex abuse images was jailed.

Colin Hodgson, 61, from Colchester, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months imprisonment on Friday (January 5), after it came to light that he had sexually assaulted a girl from the age of 18 months to three years old.

He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, as well as three counts of making indecent images of children.

Over 100,000 images were found on devices owned by Hodgson, including 56 of the same victim.

Defending, Barry Gilbert QC said: “He said to me I know it was wrong I tried to stop myself.

“After his second divorce he was living on his own. He said he started to look on the internet and came across those images. He tried to stop and he could not."

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ARTHUR COLLINS (jailed for a further 8 months on January 17)

The former boyfriend of The Only Way is Essex star Ferne McCann was sentenced to an additional eight months in prison for smuggling a mobile phone into prison.

Arthur Collins, 25, was found to have hidden the mobile phone, along with two SIM cards and two memory sticks, inside a crutch when he was on remand in September.

He had spent months on crutches after breaking both ankles jumping from a window while trying to evade arrest in April.

At the time of the discovery, Collins was awaiting trial over a terrible acid attack at an East London nightclub, which left 16 people injured and three partially blind.

In December 2017, Arthur Collins was jailed for 20 years for his role in the acid attack, before later pleading guilty to smuggling a phone that he had planned to use to contact Ferne during her pregnancy.

He was sentenced to a further eight months in jail at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, January 17.

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WILLIAM NOLAN and JAMES RITCHIE (jailed for a combined 24 years on January 23)

William Nolan (left) and James Ritchie

A Southend pair who stabbed and punched a man while raiding his home for drugs after breaking in were jailed for almost 24 years.

William Nolan, 39, of Cecil Court, Jones Close, Southend, was jailed for just under 12 years for aggravated burglary on Tuesday, January 23, at Southend Crown Court, while co-defendant James Ritchie, 33, of Hastings Road, Southend, was jailed for 12 years on Friday, January 19.

At around 2.30am on January 15 last year, the victim returned to his flat in York Road, Southend, to find the door had been forced open.

When the 27-year-old man walked through the door he found Ritchie and Nolan inside.

During the following incident, the victim was stabbed in the leg and suffered bruising and scratching to his arms, legs, back, head and hands, as well as a cut nose and swollen eye.

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NEIL DUNCAN (jailed for 16 years on January 24)

He was jailed for 16 years for historic sex offences against children across London and the home counties

A musician from Southend who molested young boys in the 1970s was jailed.

Neil Duncan, 74, of Kingfisher Close, Southend, was sentenced to 16 years in prison at Wood Green Crown Court on January 24.

The retired musician had admitted committing 39 offences against six male victims in court on December 5, 2017.

The offences included seven counts of buggery and one count of attempted buggery with a victim under 16, incitement to commit buggery, 13 counts of indecency with an under 14, 15 counts of indecent assault on an under 16 and two counts of making indecent images.

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The pair, both of Blackthorn Court, Langdon Hills, admitted the charges at Basildon Cown Court.

Hall was jailed for 46 months and Forward was jailed for 40 months.

Following the sentencing, Sergeant Scott Fitzmaurice of the West Op Raptor team said: "Not only did we succeed in taking two dangerous weapons off the street and a significant amount of Class A drugs, but we have now put Forward and Hall behind bars."